Blindsided
by writer-in-newyork
Summary: Derek didn't die. The car accident happened, damage was done but Derek walked out just fine. (Sorry that I'm terrible with summaries)
1. Chapter 1

**This is my first Grey's fanfiction and I have plans for more if this fic does well!**

 **Let me just start off with this: Derek did not die, nor will he ever die in any of my stories. Grey's just isn't the same; I keep waiting for Dempsey to pop up on my TV screen :(**

 **Disclaimer: Grey's Anatomy is not mine, nor will it ever be. All credits go to Shonda and ABC network.**

Chapter 1

All he saw was memories of the past ten years; all including Meredith and/or their children. They flew by in fast pictures: waking up on Meredith's floor after their one night stand, sharing Doc with Meredith, the house of candles, their post-it wedding, Meredith's support after his shooting, the temporary custody they once had with Zola before she was taken from them all too soon, officially adopting Zola after many grueling months after misery, Zola's first word and first steps, celebrating Zola's first birthday surrounded by their friends and family, Meredith's announcement of being pregnant with Bailey, the long months of Meredith's pregnancy and supporting Meredith through her fears after losing the baby, the near-death his wife experienced during a superstorm while having their baby boy delivered. And, most recently, their fights about D.C, his decision to leave his new job to return to Seattle full time, his wanting of a new baby. But now, he can remember a semi-truck zooming its way through his car.

In an attempt to call Meredith, Derek dropped his phone on the floor below the passenger's seat. Picking up the phone, he quickly ducked back to the other side of the car upon see the truck that would presumably end his life. _This is it_ he thought as he saw the truck ready to make impact with his car.

The drivers side of the car was totaled, seeing as how the semi-truck had pushed his car towards the edge of the road. To his relief, he hadn't sustained much injuries, just a bruise that would soon show up from landing on the gear shift in his haste to avoid his guaranteed death had he stayed in the driver seat. The passenger side, thankfully, was untouched, so Derek quickly made his way out of the vehicle, and walking away from the event that had just occurred. Looking at the time, Derek sighed.

It was five o'clock and he was supposed to call Meredith an hour ago to let her know that he was boarding his plane. The plane that was supposed to take him to D.C so he could officially quit his job and collect the rest of his belongings. He may have just escaped death, but he'd be facing it soon enough again if he didn't get a hold of Meredith. Because oh boy was she going to kill him.

* * *

On the deserted road, it was just him. No one was around, any sign of civilization was back a couple of yards. He had to get out of there, back home to his wife and kids. There was no cell phone reception so Derek had no way of calling anyone. On the phone he had told Amelia that he knew a short cut to the airport, but truth be told, today was the first day Derek was taking that path. And that came back to bite him in the ass because he had no idea of how long this winding road was, or even how far he was before he would come in contact with cellular reception.

For once in Seattle, it was a sunny day; and with that sunny day came heat. Derek walked quite distance and sweat was beginning to seep through his clothes. He wasn't very religious, but he prayed to God that he would know where he was soon because he needed to make some phone calls, and get rehydrated.

Miles later, Derek found himself at a small gas stop where he had little cell reception. The most important call he had to make first was the police to make them aware of the situation that occurred all those miles back, then Meredith. Hopefully she would understand everything and not have a panic attack when he told her about the accident. It was a little past six now, so she should be arriving back at their house soon. Maybe he would just show up and surprise her? _No_ Derek decided against that idea because he knew his wife hated surprises. How would he even word that? "Surprise, I never left Washington because I met a near death experience"? That would just cause his wife to freak out more than he already knew she would.

" _9-1-1 what's your emergency?"_

"Derek Shepherd calling. I was on scene today with the car accident on the back roads. I need to report another accident. A semi-truck crashed into my vehicle. I am no longer on the scene...I had to get reception to make this call."

 _"Are you injured?"_

"No. I am fine, but the driver is probably going to be a bit banged up. Will most likely need to be sent to the hospital. It was a mess back there, my car is half totaled. Just...send someone out. Immediately."

Before the opperator could respond, Derek hung up and stepped into the small shop that sat on the property of the gas station to buy a couple bottles of water to rehydrate before he called Meredith. Downing one bottle, Derek stepped back outside and made the call to his wife...

 _"You've reached Meredith Grey..."_

...or, well he tried to. He knew Meredith, she only turned her phone off when she was in surgery so if it went off the nurses wouldn't read any text messages-a routine now done due to a very dirty text Derek had sent her a while back. Before he could do anything else, he saw that his phone was on ten percent. And he left his bags in his car...and that included his phone charger. At least he had his wallet.

* * *

Coming out of surgery at five thirty, Meredith was still concerned about not having heard from Derek. She pulled out her phone; no calls, no texts, nothing. Sighing, Meredith tried calling her husband who she hoped had a great excuse for not contacting her.

 _"This is Derek Sh..."_

The phone didn't even ring, it just went straight to voicemail. She sat down at the nurses station in an effort to calm her nerves. She had a feeling; a feeling that she was all too familiar with from back during her intern year and she held her hand in a body cavity that could explode at any moment. The feeling that day was what she was experiencing at that moment and she didn't like it at all.

She needed someone to calm her down. Alex was in surgery, Amelia was in surgery, it was Maggie's day off so she volunteered to watch the kids that day. She had no one. But then Doctor Bailey arrived.

"Grey?" Her former resident, her mentor asked softly in concern.

Meredith looked up from her phone and sighed. "Derek was supposed to call by now telling me that he was boarding his plane. He was supposed to go to D.C and officially quit and pack up the rest of his things so he could return home full time. But I haven't heard from him since this morning when he left. The last I know, Amelia was the last person to talk to him before his phone cut off their phone call. For all I know he was in another plane crash. And this time, I'm not there to find him, to pin his arm up with a safety pin, keep him warm if it got cold. There's this feeling. And it's not a good one...my mind knows that something bad is going to happen, but I just don't know what."

Bailey stood at the nurses station soaking in all of what her former intern was saying. She knew the worry Meredith went through each time Derek stepped foot onto a plane ever since the plane crash that took the lives of her sister and Mark Sloan. Hell, Bailey worried each time he stepped on a plane because she knew that if anything had happened, Meredith would blame herself and enter a dark place no one really understood but Yang and Karev, the first one not being in contact with anyone from Seattle in almost a year. "He'll show up, Grey. Stop thinking bad things. There's not always another shoe that's going to drop. I know all of the difficulties you have had in the past and the worries you go through, but you can't put that stress on you, especially when you're working. When does your shift end?"

Meredith thought back to her schedule and sighed. "Eight." That was just over two hours from now.

"Take yourself to an on call room and try and get some kind of sleep in because you look like hell," Bailey instructed.

Meredith listened to Bailey, however her attempts at sleep were short lived as she was being paged with an incoming MVC. Sighing and complaing about people not being careful on the road, Meredith got up from the bed and began her way to the elevator.

Reaching the first floor, Meredith picked up her pace to make it to the ER as quickly as possible when she passed a waiting room. The waiting room that had a news station playing. The news station that was reporting on a motor vehicle crash on the back roads of the highway. With footage that showed Derek's car in the background smashed up on the drivers side, the semi truck mereged with it.

 _MVC. NO._ Meredith's stomach sank, her heart rate sky rocketing. She began running to the ER but before she could make it there, Bailey intercepted her run.

With Bailey's arms stopping Meredith, Meredith tried squirming her way out of the woman's hold. Was Bailey trying to tell her about Derek? Was he injured...or worse...dead? She didn't know what she would do with herself if anything ever happened to him again. First the shooting, then the plane crash and now this? She had a freaking feeling. "Bailey, I have to go. Derek's car was there. I need to go...MVC...Derek..." The was all Meredith was able to get out before she started having a panic attack.

Bailey was quick to sit her down and calm the younger woman down. "Meredith, it was the driver. The driver of the truck was brought in. He was the only one that was there. Derek wasn't at the scene at all."

"I'm telling you, that was his car. My husband was not only in a car crash, but is also MIA? That doesn't make me feel any better, Bailey! He is stubborn as hell; he probably thought he was just fine, got out of the damn car and left to go get help. But now, he is no where to be found, only God knows where my husband is."

* * *

 **A/N: Well, there's chapter 1...I have had this idea since I watched all of Grey's in the summer after seeing 11x21 and the wording of this chapter hit me as I was packing up my dorm room for the summer, so I typed it up as I thought it through and posted it. If there are any spelling errors, I am sorry, I just didn't have the time to check them over (and I don't use Word to type documents, therefore I had no spell checking either). Reviews are welcomed and appreciated, as are any suggestions.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you guys so much for the reviews! And thank you to all those who have added this fic to their favorites & followed it :)**

 **I am sorry about the wait for this chapter, I had went on a vacation the day after I posted chapter 1 and returned home aboout a month later, I have been going through the process of applying to a new school to transfer to, and I have been unpacking everything I had taken up to my college dorm. BUT it is all done now and I have sat down and made an outline of everything up to chapter 5.**

 **I'm not going to make promises for when I'll update because I never know when it will get hectic, however, I am hoping to have a new chapter posted every week.**

Chapter 2

Calm?! How could Bailey even suggest that Meredith calm down when she had no idea where her husband was-her husband whose car was currently smashed up on the television screen. Meredith had no idea when Bailey had moved them over to the waiting room, or how long they had been sitting there.

Finally pulling herself together, Meredith assured her former resident that she was just going to do charting for the rest of her shift.

That was fifteen minutes ago. So while she sat at the nurses station and attempted to do some charts, she tried calling Derek again only for it to go straight to his voicemail again.

She would feel better about it all once she saw for herself that Derek was alive and well. And she was able to have a freak out on him for making her a mess all day.

* * *

Derek breathed a sigh of relief when he had made it back into the busier part of Seattle and realized that he was a very close distance to Grey-Sloan Memorial. He recalled Meredith telling him that her shift ended at eight, so when he looked at his watch and saw that it was nearing seven o'clock, Derek decided to go to the hospital so he could see his wife in person.

The only fear Derek still had was facing his wife after the agonizing day he knew he had probably caused her. And the wrath of Meredith Grey was something he was not looking forward to enduring.

His legs were tired of walking, he wanted to be in the air conditioning sitting down with the comfort of his family. The last mile of road that distanced Derek from Grey-Sloan seemed like the longest of all the other miles he had walked. By this point in the game, Derek was sure he would be dehydrated by the time he reached the hospital. There was just a small stretch of land holding him back from his family, that is what was keeping Derek going.

* * *

Meredith was getting antsy. Coverage was still playing on the television of the accident, Derek's car was still slightly visible on the screen and he hadn't returned to the scene. Meredith knew her husband, if he had went to get help he would have been back by now.

Suddenly, Meredith had flashbacks of the plane crash that took the life of her sister and Mark Sloan. Just thinking of that day when she couldn't find Derek in the woods sent chills throughout her body. She thought Derek had gone to get help that day, that he would return with help. But he hadn't, and when it seemed like forever since she first searched for him, but there was no sign of her husband, Meredith was sure he was dead somewhere in the woods.

That was the foreboding feeling Meredith was currently having. Derek would have called, had he gone for help, he would have been back at the scene by now. It was just like the woods, Derek was laying in a ditch somewhere injured. And that thought killed her.

She was so concentrated on the screen that she hadn't felt the presence of someone next to her until there was a tap on her shoulder.

* * *

Miranda Bailey was walking back towards the waiting room to find the family of her patient when she saw her former intern sitting at the nurses station staring at the television screen that was playing news converage of the accident that Derek Shepherd was clearly in. Looking at the resident that was following her, she informed him to go update the family as she went over to Meredith Grey.

The woman didn't even notice the presence of another body next to her until Mirand tapped her shoulder. "You should not be sitting here watching that screen. You are worried, I understand, but looking at what is unfolding on the screen is only making you feel worse. Derek is fine. You and I both know that Derek Shepherd is one of the most stubborn men around, he won't go down without a fight."

Meredith looked up at her former mentor and just stared at her. "I know Derek. He would have called me if he was safe. He would have gone to get help, and maybe come in an ambulance if he was working on the other driver when the paramedics arrived. Bailey, something is wrong. I've had this feeling before and it ended up with me drowing, almost dying when I had my hand in a body cavity with ammunition in it. It's never a good feeling."

"Sitting here is doing you no good," Bailey continued trying to get the broken woman to see that everything was going to be okay. But most importantly, she needed to get her away from the nurses station. "You are going to an on-call room until you here from Derek. Do I make myself clear?" She didn't wait for an answer as she grabbed Meredith by the arm and began dragging her to the farthest on-call room because Miranda Bailey knew Meredith Grey, and she knew the woman would peek out the door to see the television screen.

Luckily the room was empty so Bailey escorted Meredith in and both women took a seat on the bed. "Talk to me."

"Derek would have called me. It's not like him to keep me worrying like this, especially when he was on a plane. We have a deal...he calls me as he's boarding and when he lands. It is now an hour and a half since he was supposed to call. But nothing."

"Grey, the police would have contacted you by now," Bailey tried to soothe, but failed.

Meredith stood up when Bailey said that and began pacing. "And I'm not home. Maggie is at my house with my children. She knows I'm working so why would she call?"

"Because she knows that you would need to know anything about Derek's whereabouts. Stop thinking the worse of the situation. You're going to make yourself sick if you keep it up. And I am not going to be the one cleaning that up."

* * *

Derek breathed a sigh of relief when the parking lot of the hospital came into view. It would all be over once he stepped foot in the doors of Grey-Sloan. His feet were begging him to stop walking; his throat dry from thirst. He needed a shower to wash away all the sweat and dirt from his journey through Seattle. Derek knew he probably shouldn't make a joke like that, especially in front of Meredith because without even seeing her, he knew that she was not going to be happy with him; relieved to see him, yes...but she'll still be upset with him for not getting in touch with her, to let her know what had happened. It surely was not going to be a fun night.

Derek ran a hand through his hair when he reached the curb that led to the pathway of the front doors of Grey-Sloan. He had to admit it now, he was terrified of seeing his wife. Finishing the short distance that separated him from his family, Derek entered the hospital and looked around. No Meredith.

As he reached the nurses station, Derek took a quick look in the waiting room and saw what was playing on the television. He cringed at the sight of what he left behind a few hours ago.

"Can you please page Doctor Grey for me?" Derek asked the nurse at the station.

* * *

Meredith had been silent after talking with Bailey, who was still with Meredith, thinking about everything that could happen. She was grateful that Bailey had insisted she stayed with Meredith until she heard any news unless she was paged a 911. The silent room echoed when a pager began to go off.

Meredith looked at her pager and sighed. "It's mine. Probably to inform me that my husband was found dead in a ditch." Dark and twisty Meredith had emerged in the midst of the situation and she hated it. She had been bright and shiny for quite some time now, and now all her hard work was thrown out the window in a matter of hours.

She got up from the bed and began walking to the nurses station where she had been paged to. As she got closer to the station, she squinted her eyes at the figure that was getting closer. All she knew was that it was a rugged man, seeing as his back was to her. Meredith's guess is that he was watching the news coverage.

He must have heard her footsteps approaching because he turned around when Meredith reached the nurses station. Her breath was taken away when she realized that the rugged figure was her husband.

Her very alive husband. Meredith breathed a sigh of relief and threw her arms around her husband. Although when she had finally released her tight grip on him she punched him in the shoulder, not hard but also not soft. And he happily accepted it, anticipated it in fact.

"Where the hell have you been? I saw your car on that screen and thought you were dead! You couldn't find a few minutes to call me to say 'Hey Mer, don't worry, I'm safe...I'm alive'? Was that so hard?" Meredith asked has some of her words were quivering as she held back the much needed feeling to cry.

Derek sighed and decided to tell her later that he did try. Now was not the time for talking. Right now, he needed to hold his wife in his arms. And he didn't have much of a choice because before he knew it, her arms were around him again.

As he held his wife, he saw Miranda Bailey standing back a ways giving him a small smile before turning on her feet and leaving.

 **Again, so sorry for the wait. I am beginning to write chapter 3 now, and am feeling hopeful that it is uploaded by Sunday or Monday. I scanned over this, I didn't really read through it all so I am sorry for any spelling errors. Also, I know the sections are very small, but it was just because of how it was from each person's POV and I didn't want to ramble on one POV. It'll be better next time.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you for all the reviews. I don't know what's going on with the site, but I have been getting the reviews notification sent to my email.**

 **Also, this is up way before Sunday and Monday because I have had time to sit down and write the whole thing out (and revision) because I am dogsitting so I have absolutely nothing to do.**

 **Patsy: It's definitely not just your reviews not showing up, it's everybodies. But I have read your reviews via email and justed wanted to say thank you :) I hope you enjoy what I have in store for the readers.**

Chapter 3

Meredith released Derek from the tight hold in her arms before pulling back a little to examine him. The first thing she noticed, aside from the dirt that was stuck on her husband's face was a head lac on his forehead opposite a scar from a motorcycle accident years ago. From the look at the rest of Derek's body, Meredith could guess he had some bruising.

She grabbed his hand and began walking him to an exam room while talking to him. "What the hell happened today? You didn't call or text...I see your car destroyed on the news. The driver was brought in a while ago and I thought it was you when they announced a MVC having just seen your car on the news! Where the hell were you anyway, never have I been on that road going to or from the airport."

Derek sighed as Meredith forced him to sit on the exam table, allowing her to begin cleaning up whatever wounds he hadn't even realized were on his face before answering. "Mer, there was so much traffic. I couldn't miss that plane, so I took a short cut. This car came out of no where and before I knew it he was the cause of the first accident. There was this little girl in the car with her mom, I helped them first before helping the other two. I have no idea what happened to any of them. Thankfully Winnie, the little girl, made it out without any damage."

Meredith smiled slightly at Derek's retelling of the first accident, only because she knew how much he liked helping people. But she needed to know about what happened to him. "Derek, I know all about that. They were brought here. Tell me what happened to you."

"My car was just sitting there. I bent down to pick up my phone to call you and the next thing I know is this semi-truck is coming at me. I would've died if I stayed in the driver's seat. Somehow I managed to duck over to the passenger's side and managed to get out that way because, luckily for me it was untouched. But there was no cell reception so I couldn't call you."Derek recounted wincing a little as Meredith examined the head lac on his forehead. "I walked to the nearest gas station and made a call to 911 before calling you, but it went to voicemail. And then my battery died. I had absolutely no idea where I was and somehow managed to walk from there to here. And here we are," Derek finished almost sounding proud of himself.

Meredith stepped back from her husband after finishing with the head lac and stared at him like he was crazy. "I was in surgery. Oh God I forgot to turn my phone back on. I kept calling from the nurses station. Why the hell do you sound so proud of yourself? Yes, you can be proud because you helped those four people, but Derek no more short cuts! I shouldn't even let you drive anymore. But driving down a road you've never been down before not knowing where the hell it would take you? That was stupid, Derek. You're lucky you were able to move out of that damn seat. Now since you decided to take that shortcut, you're stuck getting a head CT and full body scan because I'll be damned if something is wrong with you and I didn't catch it."

Derek was actually surprised that Meredith hadn't blown up at him. Rather than arguing with her, because Derek knew he was pushing his luck that day, Derek agreed to the scans, even though he knew that would come up clean, leaving a few ribs aside. He knew what she was worried about most, brain damage. But he hadn't hit his had all that hard. Derek thought back to what he had told Meredith about the day's events and realized he hadn't told her about hitting his head...then again he also didn't realize he hadn't known about it himself.

After calling down to CT, Meredith had a ten minute wait, so she found a pen light and began a neuro check. She probably should have called for a consult, but she knew what she was doing, she was afterall examining a neurosurgeon who could walk her through it if she hadn't known. "If the scans come up clean we're going home. My shift is just ending. The kids will be happy to see you. Zola thought it would be a few days before she saw you again."

Derek agreed, just happy at the idea of seeing his children again, especially after thinking for a brief while he wouldn't be able to see them ever again.

* * *

Being his wife meant that technically Meredith couldn't help Derek medically, so she called Bailey for the CT, leaving neuro out of her calls after Derek's begging her not to because then he would have to face Amelia, and that was a confrontation he didn't want to have in the hosptial.

In the viewing space, Bailey, with Meredith at her side, was waiting for Derek's scans to come up.

"Stupid brain man having to help every damn person he sees..."

Meredith smiled at Bailey's small complaint but knew she wasn't exactly serious. "His heart was in the right place...he just...I don't even know how I can explain it to people."

"Wrong place at the wrong time, that is the phrase you're looking for, Grey. Scans are up."

Meredith studied the scan of Derek's brain and breathed a sigh of relief when there was nothing there. She then moved onto the full body scan that Bailey was currently looking at.

"Well, nothing serious," Bailey commented, "just some bruised ribs. Should heal on their own. He is not to work for a couple of weeks."

Meredith smiled at Bailey before she commented, "You'll have to be the one to tell him that, he won't listen to me. Besides, if you talk to him in a certain tone, he's scared of you."

* * *

When Meredith and Derek entered their dream house, the first thing they saw was Zola and Bailey sitting with Maggie who was reading a story to them. Derek cleared his throat and Zola looked up before running over to him.

"DADDY!" She screamed as she ran into his arms.

"Be careful with Daddy for a while, Zozo. He's hurting a bit," Meredith told her daughter. She looked around the house, then at Zola who was gently clinging to Derek's neck, then to Bailey. As her eyes wandered, she had no idea what she would do had Derek died in the accident. She smiled as she watched Derek sit on the couch with both of their children cuddling up to him as he took over reading the story, Maggie getting up to come and talk to Meredith.

"I thought he was supposed to be in D.C," Maggie whispered so the kids didn't hear.

Meredith sighed at having to finally having to talk about the day's events with someone other than Miranda Bailey. As she was retelling everything to Maggie, Meredith realized that both she and Derek would have to explain everything to Amelia when she got home. And that, that was something Meredith was not looking forward to. By the time she was finished explaining everything to Maggie, Meredith found herself in her sister's hold.

She had to admit, as much as she wanted to hate Maggie in the beggining, she couldn't. Lexie will always hold a place in her heart, and she will never forget all the effort her younger sister had put in so she could actually have Meredith as a sister...but Maggie will also always hold a place in her heart because she is the only connection she has left of her mother, and she actually likes the woman Cristina had chose for her replacement. As much as Meredith had first dreaded having sisters, she actually liked it...especially the sisters she had been given.

* * *

When the kids were finally in bed, Meredith and Derek sat on the couch in the living room waiting for Amelia's return home. While they were waiting, Meredith grabbed Derek's hand that was next to her.

"I have to..."

Meredith sighed as she was cut off by Amelia's entrance into the house

 **A/N: I hate how short the sections were. I'm trying to make them longer, I promise. I'm not too sure how I feel about this chapter, I feel like it could have been better, except I wasn't sure how to make it better.**


	4. Chapter 4

**I planned to update a day or two after I posted chapter 3, but life hit me like a ton of bricks. Family problems.**

 **I am no where near done with this story, however, I am drawing up plans on a new MerDer story taking place in season 5. Or one that starts before Meredith's internship...but I know that there are a lot of those out. Feel free to give your opinions (or ideas) in the reviews, I will gladly appreciate it, and I can begin writing out the plans as I continue to update this story.**

Chapter 4

When Amelia arrived home, she saw Meredith's car in the driveway and sighed. She knew that Meredith being home meant that she was probably fighting with Derek over the phone, something she did not want to hear after the day that she had.

However, when she walked in, she saw her brother sitting on the couch holding hands with her sister-in-law. Amelia had shut the door just as Meredith was beginning to confess something to Derek, which was quickly ended when Amelia was noticed.

"You're home!" Derek said cheerfully.

Amelia stood behind the door still shocked at seeing her brother home. She definitely did not see his car outside. "I'm home," she confirmed before adding, "what the hell are you doing here? What happened to D.C.?" As soon as Amelia asked, she saw Meredith tighten are grip on Derek's hand. From that alone she knew some serious had happened.

"Well, there was an accident," Derek started, "it was on the shortcut that I took..."

"I told you there were no shortcuts," was Amelia's attempted joke, but she stopped the effort when she saw Meredith get up, leave the room and swiftly shut the bedroom door. "What happened, Derek?"

Derek looked at the door longingly, wanting to know what Meredith wanted to tell him before he turned back to his younger sister. "There was a semi truck that crashed into my car. I made it out with just a few scratches and bruised ribs. Bailey said I was fine, I just can't go to work for a few weeks."

Amelia was at a loss for words after Derek had gave a brief explanation of what had happened. She walked over to Derek and hug him tightly, mindful of his ribs. "I'm glad you're okay. Just...no more shortcuts. I can't lose another man that means everything to me."

* * *

While Amelia and Derek were in the living room, Meredith had retreated to their bedroom. Derek was giving Amelia details of what the day had held for him and she couldn't stand to hear it again, especially after living it. Today she could have lost her husband forever; her kids would no longer have their father around; their dream house in the woods would feel too big for just Meredith and the kids, and Amelia when she's home. She's not sure what she would even do if something had happened to Derek. All Meredith knew for sure was that she couldn't live without him, and she doesn't ever want to.

He wanted more with her, and she with him. Had they succeeded in making a baby that morning, that would be a child that never got to meet their father, and that was a heartbreaking revelation that Meredith never wanted to deal with. She couldn't imagine being a single mom of three kids.

She was so lost in her thoughts that Meredith hadn't even noticed that the bedroom door was opening. When Meredith looked up, she saw that Derek was making his way into the room. As she was sitting on the edge of the bed, Derek had joined her, taking her hand in his like they were in the living room.

Meredith could feel Derek staring at her with those McDreamy eyes and she knew she was going to break before he was even able to question her. "You were going to say something before Amy walked in. Would you like to tell me now?" She could hear the hope in his voice, so she turned to look at him.

Her eyes were shining, something Derek hadn't seen in quite a while, definitely before the whole D.C. incident. She was biting her lip in a way that indicated she was nervous, so Derek didn't know what to expect Meredith to say.

"This morning, you said you wanted more..." she started off.

"Hopefully we accomplished the more part," Derek said, wanting to add humor into what seemed to be a serious conversation.

"And I want it too," she continued as if he hadn't even interrupted. "I just...we...before I got worried today, before I knew that you were missing, I was thinking about this morning. And I had this patient today, and I just thought that...it's been...we had been fighting all the time and when you were home, we had angry sex...and, well...we accomplished 'more' a couple months ago, apparently," Meredith said, she hated that she rambled but she didn't know how to explain the situation to Derek. "There was just so much stress these past few months with all the fighting, being a super doctor by not losing any patients, raising Zola and Bailey alone, I just never realized...until I was in the attendings lounge thinking about this morning."

Derek looked at his wife shocked, and worried seeing as she just blurted everything out in one breath. "Breathe, Meredith," he said with a slight smile showing on his face. "We're having another baby?"

Meredith looked up at Derek and smiled, though still worried about said baby considering it had been around for a while without being noticed. Anything could be wrong. But Meredith was determined to get through this pregnancy without any negative thoughts like she did with Bailey. "We are having another baby," Meredith confirmed before Derek had her wrapped in his arms. It wasn't a tight hug because of his ribs, but they had managed. "I'm sorry there aren't any shirts this time around."

The rest of their night was short; both Meredith and Derek were tired out from the days events, Derek especially, but the rest of the night they were awake, they discussed their baby.

XXX

Meredith was still paranoid the next morning, so she made an appointment with the OB in the hospital. She and Derek had dropped the kids off at daycare before they had made their way up to the third floor. The closer they got to the floor, the more anxious Meredith grew. Derek was comforting her, placing a comforting hand on her back.

When they were called back, Meredith sat up on the exam table ready for the doctor to walk in. Doctor Ryan smiled when she walked in at the sight of Meredith and Derek in the room again. She still felt bad about the last time she had seen Meredith-on an operating table in the middle of a super storm, just minutes before her patient would fade into unconsciousness. Connie had heard about it, but never asked about it, however, she made sure that she was always the one to close now.

"Welcome back, Doctor Grey, Doctor Shepherd. How are you feeling Meredith?"

Meredith looked at Derek before looking at Connie again. "I feel a lot better now that I'm getting checked out. I didn't even notice I was pregnant until yesterday."

"Any morning sickness, aches, cramps?"

Meredith shook her head. "None."

As Connie began looking over Meredith's vitals that had been taken by the nurse, and her weight gain, she asked the parents-to-be about their son. "And how is Bailey?" She had found out the name through hospital gossip. At first she thought it was strange to name a boy Bailey, but after hearing that he was named after the woman who saved his mother's life, Connie understood.

"Oh, he's great. Getting around everywhere," Meredith said with a smile on her face.

Doctor Ryan kept the small conversation up as she began to examine Meredith. "Okay, so by the looks of it, you're about three months along. As you know that means you have a lower risk of miscarriage. I'd say about you're going to have an early Christmas baby, as I like to call those who are born just two weeks before Christmas. Developing nicely. In a couple weeks time we'll be able to detect if there are any abnormalities, and if the baby isn't shy, the sex," Connie said as she printed out pictures of the scan. "Make an appointment for a month from now."

"Thank you, Connie," Derek said as they were escorted back to the waiting room. After making the next appointment, Meredith and Derek headed up to the attendings lounge.

"Bailey is going to flip if she sees you here, Derek. Seriously, go to your office and just stay there until I'm done my shift."

Putting on his scrub shirt with a little difficulty, Derek shook his head. "I'll just do consults. Besides, it's not like Amy is going to let me operate."

"Whatever, it's on you when you get caught. And you will; Bailey knows everything," Meredith said while shaking her head, a small smile on her face as the two left the lounge together. "I'm off at five. I'll meet you at the daycare because there is no way you're going to make it through this hospital with Zola pulling on your hand trying to drag you to the car, along with holding Bailey and their bags with those bruised ribs."

"Yes, mother. I'll see you later."

That evening, Derek was making dinner while Meredith put the scattered toys away. She made her way into the kitchen and went over to Derek. "What do we tell the kids. I mean, Bails probably won't even understand, but Zola...she'll understand. I know what to tell them, I just don't know how. The last time we had to do this, she was tiny and almost three, she couldn't really understand."

"We will sit Zola down, talk to her first. Let her see the scans, let her ask questions. And Bailey...well he can be there when we talk to Zola, but I think you're right, he won't really understand."

"Well maybe when I'm an elephant and he can actually see it he'll understand?" Meredith questioned, mainly to herself.

"Like I said, sit Zola down, have Bailey there. Let Zola ask whatever, we'll handle it as we go."

 **Like I said, I am super sorry about it being this late. Sick father and everything. I'm not sure how I feel about the quality of it. I began writing it when everything started happening and finished it as well. Just forgot to post it.**

 **Any who, bring Cristina back? Yay or nay? And I am trying to make the updates longer, I really am, I just feel like it would be bad if they were long because it would probably be rambling.**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: So sorry it has been so long; I'm going to be honest with you here, I have been storming up new ideas for both of my stories (and in the process thought of an idea for a new story but I won't publish it until I have more chapters up of both this story and be with you), but I have also been binge watching Private Practice (and I love Addison now, but I feel like they could have given her a better ending **** **SPOILER** **if you haven't watched the series** I absolutely love her/ her relationship with Jake, but I feel like the writers could have given them a miracle baby rather than Naomi's pregnancy. But that's just me, and I had binge watched Grey's up to until the season 13 premiere (are we EVER going to hear Jo's side? Alex did a hell of a job to DeLuca's face—not even the semi destroyed Derek's face and that's saying something)…rant over.**

 **Also, thank you for the reviews and those of you who checked in with me**

 **Correction to content in the previous chapter: I'm basing the time off of the episodes, so Derek's accident was on April 25 and the following episodes had the first holiday as Easter (but Easter in 2015 was April 5th), so I'm having this story start at the accident which in my story happened in the middle of March, but the time in which Meredith got pregnant was 3 months prior so she got pregnant in late December making her due sometime in late September/early October.**

 **Sorry for such a long authors note.**

Chapter 5

It was honestly a shocking turn of events for Derek. He hadn't expected to get into a car accident that was so bad half of his car was practically gone; so bad to the point that he very well could have died. When he had told Meredith he wanted more, he meant it, but he hadn't expected it to have happened already. For a man who was in such an accident, Derek was still just as happy as the day Zola had arrived at Seattle Grace Mercy West for the first time. He and Meredith had beat the odds of her hostile uterus again, something he took great pride in for the both of them.

He was laying in bed the next morning staring at his sleeping wife. At a closer look of her, Derek realized just how much weight he had put on her shoulders. But she still looked just as good as the day he met her in Joe's bar all those years ago. The only sound that filled the room was Meredith's soft snores which he had grown accustomed to over the years, the sound now rather soothing to the neurosurgeon. After their talk the night before, the pair had decided to spend their day off by telling the kids—mainly Zola—about the new baby that would make its way into their family. He only hoped that the young girl would be happy about it.

Derek was about to attempt to sleep again only to be kept awake by the sounds of tiny footsteps making their way to the master bedroom. He didn't move an inch, but he did smile when Zola had tiptoed up to Meredith's face before poking her mother.

Zola wasn't big enough just yet to climb her way onto the bed, so the poking had to suffice for the time being. Meredith moved a little at the poke. She knew exactly who it was, and she could already picture the small smile that her daughter had on her face. It was something that had started when Derek had first left when Meredith left the kids on their bed so the bed wasn't empty throughout the night. Whenever Zola had wanted her mother to wake up, she would give her a gentle poke to the face near Meredith's nose. The blond was thankful the her daughter didn't try to squeeze her nose at the sound of her snoring, she would most definitely not appreciate that wake up, nor would she think it was cute like she did of the poking.

Finally giving into the persistent poking, Meredith smiled at her little girl. "Good morning, Zo. Where's Bailey?" Normally her daughter was accompanied by her little brother.

"He's sweeping, Mama." And Meredith knew what that meant. Princess tea party. Rolling over, Meredith looked at Derek who had the same smile on his face. He knew what their current situation meant as well.

Before she knew it, Meredith was being pulled by the arm, courtesy of her daughter with Derek laughing at her. As she was moving to get up, Meredith pulled Derek out of bed with her, mindful of his bruising. "You're not getting out of it just because you're injured, Derek. Everyone has to attend this party."

And that's how the morning was spent until Meredith heard Bailey waking up. They were getting closer and closer to the time of telling their kids about the baby brother or sister. Both she and Derek had agreed that after breakfast they would tell their kids about the growing family.

That is how they found themselves sitting on the couch; Zola was carefully sitting on Derek's lap after being told she had to be gentle because "Daddy has a lot of owies", while Bailey was sitting on Meredith's lap.

"Okay, Zo…Daddy and I have something really important to tell you," Meredith started out. She wasn't sure how to continue on so Derek began for her.

"Remember before Bailey was here, he was in Mommy's belly?"

The young girl nodded her head before giving her own innocent reply. "Mama got big, big, big."

Meredith was shocked by her daughter's words and was doing her best not to laugh. Her daughter had the filter of her Aunt Amelia.

"Yeah, I got big, big, big. Zo, there's another baby in Mommy's belly…"

The little girl sat on her father's lap with her mouth open a little. "My mama is gonna be all big again?"

This time, both of her parents couldn't help but laugh at their daughter. She definitely took after Amelia in the way she talks.

"Yeah, Zo. I am. But what Daddy and I need you to know is that soon there's going to be another baby in the house."

Zola nodded her head, somewhat understanding the situation. "I gonna have a sister? Can I have a sister, Mama. Bay isn't always fun."

"I don't know. Maybe. We'll have to see."

* * *

After telling the kids of the new arrival, Meredith and Derek decided to take advantage of the sunny day by taking the kids out on the land. Knowing that soon she wouldn't be able to spend all her free time with her grown up babies, Meredith was more than happy to chase around the land with her little boy who wanted to run around in the spacious 'yard' while Derek sat on the dock with Zola who wanted to use her rarely used pink fishing rod.

Meredith finally caught Bailey as he was making another lap around his mother and began tickling him. When she gave into the boy's pleas to stop, she looked up and a feeling of happiness flooded through her. Being able to see Derek fishing with their daughter sent a warm feeling to her heart. She was thankful that she still had her husband, that her children—all three of them—would be able to have their father around.

As if sensing his wife looking at him, Derek looked up from his spot on the dock and gave Meredith that McDreamy smile he saved just for her. At that, Meredith carried their son over toward the second half of her family and joined the father-daughter duo who were fishing, but nothing was taking the bait. With Bailey on her lap, Meredith grabbed Derek's free hand and held it tightly before looking at his face and giving him a small smile.

It seemed as though time outdoors had worn their kids out because Meredith had a sleeping Bailey leaned against her while she saw the look of drowsiness on Zola's face. That was when Meredith decided they should head back into the house for a little while. She had put Bailey in his crib upstairs while Derek setup the television for Zola to watch one of her movies.

It wasn't long after Meredith had walked down the stairs that Zola had fallen asleep during her movie. Both parents had picked the pillows off of the couch before moving their daughter closer to the back of the couch and surrounding her with pillows to prevent her from falling before they headed outside to sit on the deck.

"All those years ago, if you were to tell me that we would be married, living in this big house with two, almost three, kids, I would've called you crazy. I never saw it happening like this. It was like one minute I blinked and then we had Zola, and after suffering months of agony trying to get her back, we had her again. And I think that's when everything kind of hit me. I'm all grown up, no longer that tiny intern who was dating the married attending. We've all grown up. I mean…Cristina is running her own hospital, _we_ own part of Grey-Sloan, Alex is…well, he's a changed man. Everything has changed. I mean I never thought I would have my own flesh and blood in my life, around me all the time. But then Lexie happened, and as much as I said I hated it—her—I never did, I liked the idea of being someone's older sister, the one they went to for help," Meredith continued on as memories of her time with Lexie flashed through her mind, "and then she's taken from me, and I had to be strong because Mark was dying, Cristina had PTSD, Arizona's leg was amputated, and you had your hand and nerves to worry about. I was never able to properly mourn her. And then Maggie shows up, yeah that pissed me off, but it worked out because she's great, and we get along better than I ever thought. And kids, I never thought it was going to happen, you know after the miscarriage? I never saw this happening, and then it did, and I was happy. I am happy. And if you had told me back then that this would have happened, I would have called you crazy, but I would have been wrong."

Derek sat there soaking in everything that Meredith had revealed. He knew pregnant Meredith was a very hormonal Meredith, so he was waiting for the emotions to arrive, and well, here they are. He nodded his head while holding Meredith's hand tightly. Derek had never realized how much everything affected his wife. And now was his time to make it up. "I never thought I wouldn't be married to Addison. Never would have guessed I'd meet a girl in the bar—the perfect girl in the bar. Everything was supposed to be different. But I wouldn't change any of that. But Mark is supposed to be here, we're supposed to be raising our kids together. That crash ruined everything. You know, Lexie would always come find me, you know after she found out about us, whenever she had something she wanted to know about you because you would shut her down. She always asked questions; Lexie was so excited to finally be a little sister, so to speak. When I would give her the answers, she got so happy that she finally had another piece of information on her sister, she was closer to solving the puzzle of Meredith Grey. Hell, she even came over and yelled at me when she found out about Rose. You really miss her, huh?"

Meredith nodded her head with tears running down her face, the lump in her throat made it impossible for her to talk. "I really miss her. She told me to go and find you…she was dying and she didn't want me to see her go. I hated myself for leaving her. And I know it sounds terrible, but there are times when I wish that Arizona, or even Cristina" Meredith continued but mumbled the second name, "there are times when I wish that one of them were the one under the wreckage. I'd have my sister, only she would have one less limb. It makes me so selfish, but it's the truth. But then I feel bad about that because one of them would be dead. She loved Zola so much, and I'm sure she would be head over heels with Bailey, and this new baby. It hurts to even think about it. I just hope that I'm not treating Maggie as if she's a replacement for the sister I lost. Because she's not. I love them both." Both Meredith and Derek were quiet for a few minutes before Meredith spoke up again. "I want this baby to have some tie to Lex. Middle name, a first name would be too hard to use all the time, especially when I even think of Lexie I start crying a little. So, a middle name. Alexandria, or even Lexie for a girl. Alexander for a boy. I think we should do that. I mean, Bailey _is_ named after Miranda Bailey."

Derek nodded his head. "A tribute to Lexie. What if we have a boy and named him after Mark and Lexie?"

"Marcus Alexander…I like it. Now we need a first name for a girl. Well, it's never been that easy before."

Derek smirked at Meredith before replying in a teasing manner, "Sebastian Shepherd?"

 **Okay, so I apologize for 1) the really LONG wait, some stuff happened & 2) the mile long A/N up at the top. So, family time, MerDer time on the deck…I hope it was good. I teared up a little as a wrote about Lexie because I loved her character so freaking much! Also, I know hardly any of it is true, but my brain had an idea itself because that was NOT planned. I'd also like to note that I hardly watch season 11 because I cry during the last few episodes and always hearing the carousel never stops turning drives me CRAZY. Will post new updates ASAP I had them written, but decided against them...and also I can include** **anything/suggestions from reviews as I edit.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Back again with another update! I'm going to try and make up for my absence from this story with fast updates, but I can't make any promises.**

 **Pats: It's driving me crazy with guest reviews not posting. I do see them, I am going to go through my settings and see if there is anything I can change. Thank you for bringing it up because I actually would have forgotten to look over the settings.**

Chapter 6

Meredith had been working on charts when Derek had walked up to her. They had been at odds since that morning when Derek wanted to tell everyone of Meredith's pregnancy. As if she felt his presence, Meredith looked up and scowled at him.

"Derek, we are not having this discussion again, especially not here. It will happen when I'm ready."

"Meredith, you are in the clear, we can tell anyone we want. Come on, Zola knows, why can't everyone else?"

Meredith put her pen down and stared at Derek. "Zola knows because her world is about to change, everyone else—their life isn't going to change. They're not involved in our home life, Zola is. _That_ is why we told Zola." Before she could go on any further, her she was paged to a trauma room. "I have to go."

When she got to the trauma room, Maggie was already in there assessing their patient along with Amelia. "What happened?"

"Electrocuted and thrown off the roof while taking down holiday lights… in the rain. He checks out for neuro, but I want a CT just to be sure," Amelia filled in before she left the room.

Meredith began looking over the man who had fallen off the roof. "Abdomen is distended. He's going to need surgery," Meredith said as she moved the doppler over his stomach. "We need to get him to the OR now."

Maggie began to help Meredith for transport since she would be following her into the OR to monitor his heart. Having worked on electrocuted patients before, she knew a balloon pump would probably be needed.

They worked quickly in the operating room, having had to work on both the abdomen and heart, seeing as he had coded on the table due to what looked to be a heart attack. Meredith and Maggie were performing their separate operations until Meredith looked up and took a deep breath. She had to pull away from the table when she felt the bile rising in her throat.

"Someone pull off my mask." When everyone stayed where they were, Meredith said it louder while giving her 'Medusa' look. "Someone pull off my mask. Now." And just in time, the mask was removed just as the bile escaped Meredith's mouth. In that moment, Meredith knew two things; one, she would need to brush her teeth ASAP, and two, she had to tell at least Maggie about her soon-to-be child. And so they continuing working silently before the two sisters were able to scrub out of the surgery. As they were scrubbing, Maggie looked at Meredith.

"Okay, what was that in there?"

Meredith looked at her sister before sighing. "I'm pregnant. We're not telling anyone yet, so you need to keep quiet about it until you are told otherwise. Don't make me sorry for telling you."

Maggie smiled at her sister before hugging her tightly. Meredith awkwardly hugged her back before telling her that she needed to go brush her teeth.

* * *

Derek was sitting in a research lab when Meredith found him. She sat down on the seat next to him before sighing.

"What's wrong with you?"

Meredith bit her lip before she answered Derek. "You can tell one person. And one person only. Maybe it should be Amelia. Because Maggie just found out."

Derek looked on at Meredith before smirking. "You cracked. You just couldn't hold in the excitement anymore, could you?"

"Oh I was able to, it was my morning sickness that wanted people to find out. I threw up in the middle of my surgery. She asked me what it was about. And she was standing there, staring at me with those innocent eyes that Zola uses to get what she wants. So, yes, my sister now knows about our baby. And remember, choose wisely," Meredith finished with a smirk before she walked away. It was times like these that she missed Cristina. Cristina was the one she would always go to when she had communication problems, she just knew what to say to help Meredith make decisions. But it's not her and Cristina anymore, it's her and Derek. Sure, Alex had filled the spot of being her person, but she couldn't go to him for this kind of situation.

After Meredith and Derek had fed and bathed their two kids before putting them to bed, the two were sitting on their bed. Derek had broken the silence by telling Meredith of his encounter with Amelia.

"I decided to tell Amelia. She cried, and then hugged me. I asked her why she was crying and she told me all about her Unicorn Baby. Back in LA she was pregnant and was forced to go through a pregnancy that led to her baby boy donating all of his organs." Derek purposefully left out just why his nephew had donated all of his organs considering all the hypothetical situations Meredith had said was probably happening during her pregnancy with Bailey.

"Donated his organs? What happened?" Meredith asked from her side of the bed.

Derek sighed. Now his wife would think that their baby could be born without a brain. "He was born without a brain."

Meredith squeezed his hand. "I'm sorry, sorry for the loss of the nephew you never knew about. Maybe I should try with Amelia. She's just so…chatty."

Derek gave a chuckle before he defended his sister. "That's just the way she is. That's how she hides her pain—most of the time."

Meredith nodded before looking at Derek. "I defended her once. One of the other doctors in the hospital were talking about her. Wondering if she should even be employed because she was a junkie. I defended her. Told them it was her past, something she did when she was young. I told them I was pretty sure they did some things they regret when they were younger. And I may have threatened their job."

Derek smiled. HIs wife definitely surprised him at times. "All that for Chatty Amelia?" He saw Meredith smile and nodded out the corner of his eye.

Silence took over the room before Meredith spoke again. "I think we should find out the baby's gender. Hell, maybe we'll let Maggie take over decorating since she's so excited about the baby. She actually cornered me today after I came to find you and started talking a mile a minute about baby this and baby that. I couldn't really keep up. I think it's killing her not being able to talk to anyone else about it," Meredith said as she laughed.

 **So, this is just a quick filler. I honestly don't know how to tell someone that you're pregnant, so I did it in this quick update. Up next: MerDer find out the sex of their baby and a little drama on Derek.**


	7. Chapter 7

**I'm back :) Thanks for all the reviews. I'm giving you this update partly because I'm super excited/happy that I figured out the review things. Apparently I had the moderate review setting on, but I changed it and reviews are posting without me having to approve them in the first 36 hours.**

Chapter 7

Before they knew it, everyone at Grey-Sloan knew about the upcoming MerDer baby. In a way, Meredith was glad that everyone knew because now Maggie could go talk to someone else about the baby rather than herself. Even though they knew everything was going well so far, Meredith couldn't help but think something bad was going to happen because she had one of those _feelings_ she never liked. They always led to something bad.

Derek had left for work about thirty minutes ago and had taken the kids with him. Meredith couldn't settle down with this newly developed feeling, so she called the person who had filled Cristina's place.

"I have a feeling," she spoke before Alex could answer the phone with a greeting.

"Is it bazooka day feeling, or Derek is missing feeling?"

"I don't know. I don't feel like I'm going to die today, so that's good, right?"

She could practically hear Alex shrug over the phone. "I guess. Look, you have your appointment today, so relax. Get ready, come to the hospital and you will see that everything is fine, and there is no reason for your feeling."

"You're no help," Meredith said before she hung up the phone and followed Alex's orders. He was right; as soon as she saw that her baby was okay, the feeling would pass. No one was going to die today, no one was going to go missing after a massive car accident, everything was going to be fine.

When Meredith had arrived at the hospital, she had met Derek outside of the day care so she could see her children for the first time that day. She had walked unto Derek and was able to hear the end of his phone call.

"Yes, thank you for letting me know. I will be there as soon as possible."

Meredith scrunched her eyebrows together before asking Derek what the call was about.

"That was a call from one of my old bosses back in D.C. There are a few things I need to finish up in person, and I have to pack up the rest of the apartment—what little there is in there anyway. So I'll probably head out tonight and be back by mid-week."

Meredith crossed her arms over her chest. "No. You are not going back out there, Derek."

She could see the anger in his eyes. "And why the hell not?"

"The last time you were supposed to go out there, you could have died. Your car was so messed up that you would have died had you been anywhere else in that damn thing. So, no. You're not going out there. Not by yourself."

Derek shot her an angry look before replying. "You don't get to tell me what to do. You told me to take the job, I took it. You said you didn't want to leave Seattle, and you didn't…I had to go by myself. You just want everything to go the way you want it. Well that's not happening this time, Meredith. I am going to D.C, and you are going to stay here because I sure as hell won't let you get on a plane being as pregnant as you are!"

Meredith just stared at Derek. This was the feeling she had earlier; this was it, Derek was leaving again…even if he said he would be back in less than a week, he was still leaving. She was almost five months pregnant, and he was leaving her on her own with two kids. Knowing that her uterus was hostile, that she could miscarry at any time and he was still leaving. "We have to go up to OB. My appointment is in fifteen minutes," Meredith told him in a low, cold tone.

* * *

In the OB exam room, the air was full of tension. Meredith sat on the table while Derek sat on an empty chair as they waited for Doctor Ryan to enter the room. The couple was silence, which was unusual when they were at appointments seeing as they were always talking about their new baby. Meredith didn't like the environment she was in at the moment, it was stressing her out and she knew stress wasn't good for the baby. Before she could think any other thoughts, the door had opened and Doctor Ryan had walked in.

To her surprise, her blood pressure was right on track, seeing as how Meredith assumed it would be high from the recent encounter with Derek. After Doctor Ryan had taken note of Meredith's vitals, she began the ultrasound.

"Are we finding out the baby's sex today?" Doctor Ryan asked.

"Yes, we are," Meredith and Derek answered at the same time. Derek had stayed put in his chair where he could still see the monitor, but normally, he stood next to Meredith and held her hand. D.C really messed them up.

A few moments later, Doctor Ryan's face grew into confusion as she studied the monitor. Seeing the monitor for herself once taking note of Ryan's face, she slightly sat up and pulled the machine closer to her.

Okay, so maybe that was half of her feeling of the day mixed with word of Derek's decision. Of course this would be just her luck.

"Derek, I swear we are _done_ having kids."

Ryan continued the exam after Meredith had leaned back from were she was laying. "So, Baby A is a girl, and Baby B looks like a boy." Meredith was still in shock, but a small smile was on her face, meanwhile Derek had a huge grin taking over what was recently a scowl.

When they were finished with the exam, Meredith had changed into her scrubs. "So, I am off at eight. You can leave the kids here and I'll pick them up when I'm done. I can stop for some dinner on the way home, we'll enjoy a family night?" This was her way of offering peace between the two of them.

"Sounds great."

Meredith had changed back into her street clothes before she went and picked up her two children from day care. As they walked the hospital hallways, Zola was talking about her day while Bailey was beginning to fall asleep from where he rested in Meredith's arms.

"Okay, Zo. I told Daddy I'd pick up dinner. What do you think we should have."

Knowing her brother was asleep, Zola leaned up from her carseat, closer to the driver's seat. "Pizza, Mama. It's been a long time since we had that."

Meredith smiled at her daughter even though they had just had pizza last week at Alex's house. "Pizza it is."

A feeling of dread ran through Meredith when she reached home. Derek's car wasn't parked where it should be. All the lights were off. Nothing was going on near the trailer where Owen Hunt had still lived. Where the hell was Derek? She didn't need to ask that question though. Meredith had lived this encounter before. He left. They had an argument and he left. Packed a bag, hopped on a plane to D.C and won't be home for a few days. Just what she wanted on the day that they had discovered two very important things about their baby—babies, something she wanted to celebrate as a family.

It was just so… _Derek_.

 **Please don't hate me. I promise I will fix everything soon. And I know it's short, but I'm going to make the next one longer, so it might take 2 days for me to update.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hi all, I did not forget about any of the stories I have going on, however, I will tell you what has kept me from posting/writing.**

 **I discovered the show Charmed on Netflix and binge watched my way through it.**

 **I re-watched all seven seasons on Gilmore Girls.**

 **Netflix released the Gilmore Girls revival.**

 **I've been searching through the Gilmore Girls fan fiction Luke/Lorelai filter for days looking for story that I wanted to read, but I couldn't find it. (Any GG fans out there? If so maybe you could help. The story is about how Emily made Lorelai give Rory up for adoption and once she did, she moved to Stars Hollow and never talked. She wrote everything on a chalkboard or whiteboard or something like that until she started speaking again…I wish I had a better recollection of the story, but that is all I can remember of it.)**

 **Lauren Graham released a new book, so I spent a whole day reading that, which leads up to the most current event, her book signing in NY.**

 **Anyhow, on with the story…**

He was gone and Meredith knew it. She could tell just by the absence of his car. And he didn't even bother saying goodbye to his children. _Typical Derek_ , Meredith thought. As she opened the door, she led her children into the house hoping that Zola wouldn't notice Derek's absence and ask questions that Meredith had no answer to.

Luck was in her favor when Zola ran straight for the table so she could wait for the pizza they had picked up on the way home. Meredith placed the pizza on the kitchen counter before sitting Bailey in his booster seat they used so he could eat at the table. Once she had served her kids their dinner, she quickly made an excuse and went to check her bedroom.

Just like before, there was a tie laying on the floor that must have fallen in Derek's haste to pack, two hangers were on the floor of the closet, and a few drawers were left open. Meredith was having deja vu, the only difference this time is that she is pregnant. She just couldn't believe that he would just up and leave his family behind a second time, especially given what happened the last time he left. Sighing, Meredith returned to her children who were just about finished dinner and looked like they were ready to fall asleep at the table.

Meredith had decided that she would just give the kids their baths in the morning considering she had already decided she wasn't going into work, so just helped her children into their respective beds, which would only last a few hours before they woke up after re-energizing and joining Meredith in the 'big bed' as Zola once referred to it.

If this were a few years ago, Meredith would have called Cristina so she could bitch about Derek and his recent actions, but ever since her person had left for Zurich, they had hardly spoken; she didn't even know about Derek's leaving earlier in the year along with the accident he had found himself in. But now, things had changed and Alex was her go-to person. Cristina had been pushed behind while Alex became the first person she thought of when she needed a friend, he became her person the minute Cristina had left for good.

"Derek left," Meredith spoke into the phone before Alex could even ask why she was calling.

"Want me to kick his ass?"

Meredith gave a small smile as she remembered the conversation she once had with Alex in the bathroom, back when Derek had first brought up kids and Izzie filed for divorce. "I just need someone to talk to."

"I'll bring the alcohol," Alex said before remembering that she was pregnant and couldn't drink beer or tequila. "I'm gonna need it," he recovered quickly before Meredith could even respond to the first part of his response.

"Then I will see you when you get here."

She still couldn't believe that Derek had just up and left. And he didn't even bother to call her to let her know that he had made it to D.C safely. For the next hour, Meredith sat in the same spot of the couch waiting for Alex to arrive. She wasn't surprised when she heard the door opening and Alex walked in; Amelia was on call that night.

Amelia. The next person on her list who she probably had to tell about Derek's leaving. And boy is she going to be pissed. Before Meredith could think about Amelia any further, she felt Alex sit down on the opposite end of the couch.

"So…he just left?" Alex asked as he opened a bottle of beer.

Meredith nodded. "He didn't even tell me. I just came home to find him gone. It's like he didn't even care about the fact that we're not having one baby, we're having two."

Before she could go any further, Alex interrupted her, "Shep got you pregnant with twins?"

"Oh, yeah. There's two of them. One of each apparently. And it's like he doesn't even care because I come home from work to find him gone. At least a week's worth of clothes, maybe more because you know Derek, everything has to be perfect, even his quitting the D.C job. He didn't even say bye to the kids. That's not like him. Okay, so he did it the first time he went to D.C too, but other than that? Never has he left without a word to anyone. He's just so frustrating sometimes."

"At least you know he'll be back this time. We had no idea if or when he was coming back that last time," Alex offered in reassurance.

"Exactly! And we still have no idea because the last time, he could have ended up _dead_. What if he's actually dead this time? Then what? I'm left all alone to raise four kids, Alex, _four_. How is that fair? I could barely do it with Zola and Bailey, but now we're adding two more into the mix."

"You could always go out there," Alex suggested as he interrupted what he knew was going to be a long rant on Derek leaving.

"And do what with my kids?"

"Well, you could take them with you this time; maybe you'll actually make it to the airport this time. Can't do much jumping in your underwear with two kids with you," Alex said as he reminded her of the last time she had attempted to go to D.C.

And so, that is how Meredith Grey found herself standing in the middle of Sea-Tac with her two children after checking her bags into the airline that night. She was making the effort this time…again; for real this time. She only hoped that it would end up as a win for the Grey-Shepherd family and not a lose.

 **Next chapter is going to come later today hopefully. I know this is super short, but I didn't want to overlap what happens in the next chapter, this was like a filler to introduce whats going to happened. I wrote this when I was babysitting over the weekend and had no wifi. I'm also working on each of the other stories as well**


	9. Chapter 9

**Thank you for all the reviews :)**

 **GUYS, oh my gosh I'm terrible! Please forgive me, I have a good reason for my absence.**

 **So, school has started up again. And my being a cinema major= taking cinema classes. Well, one class is a script writing class— it's rough writing your own movie script.**

 **I am hoping to update every Friday, and if not Friday then the weekend (no promises for this week)**

After many hours on a plane, Meredith had made it to Washington D.C with her two children safely. Her next obstacle was finding Derek. She figured he would be staying in his apartment he had there, if he hadn't already gotten rid of it. Luckily, she had the address saved in her messages from all those months ago.

So with her children, Meredith caught a cab and gave the driver the address to Derek's apartment. She had to admit, it felt weird being in this new, strange place. Just knowing that if she hadn't stood her ground back before Derek left, when Cristina was still around, this would have been her home. She wouldn't have to be searching all of D.C for her husband. No, instead she would be with him, fight free.

It was her luck that they would get to the apartment and Derek wouldn't be there. Things always interfered with her plans. Except today, she did have a little luck on her side because her phone wasn't dead. Dialing Derek's number, Meredith sighed. This was not how she planned to see her husband again.

"Meredith?" Was the first thing out of Derek's mouth when he answered his phone. "Shouldn't you be at work?"

Again, Meredith sighed. "I came to you this time, but you're not home."

She could practically hear the smile crossing Derek's face. "I just finished up the paperwork I had to fill out today. I'll be at the apartment in ten minutes. There's a coffeeshop a block away if you want to wait there."

Meredith nodded her head even though Derek couldn't see it. "Okay…that works. I'll see you soon."

They had ended the call and Meredith told Zola to hold onto the rolling bag again. She had been transporting her and the kids by holding Bailey, slowly pulling a rolling luggage bag while having Zola hold onto it so her daughter was technically holding onto her and wouldn't get lost. Meredith really hadn't thought the plan out fully when she packed a bag for her and the kids. She just packed a bag and left with the kids.

The coffee shop was small but welcoming. Meredith was expecting a Starbucks type corporation, so upon entering the family owned shop, she was fairly surprised. She got herself and the kids settled at a table before asking Zola if she wanted anything.

"Zo, do what want anything to eat or drink?"

Zola looked up at her mother before replying. "Can I get a hot chocolate, mama?"

"Stay here with Bailey. I'm going to go order, okay?" Meredith said as she began to get up. All she received in response was a nod from Zola as the young girl was on her iPad.

After sitting at the table for fifteen minutes, Zola was just finishing her drink when Meredith looked up and saw her husband walking through the door. She tapped Zola on the arm to catch her attention. When the girl looked up, she ran over to Derek before she was scooped up from the ground and held in her father's arm.

Meredith smiled at the bond of Derek and their daughter. As she watched the exchange, she couldn't help but think back to the time just a few years ago when she didn't really want children, and now as she watched her family, she couldn't remember why she had been so hesitant.

She picked Bailey up and began walking over to Derek. When Derek saw her approaching, he gave her a small smile.

Oh, he knew he was in trouble for just up and leaving, but luckily for him, Meredith wouldn't say anything to him until they were home in Seattle and the kids were asleep in their respective rooms. Since their fighting began, they had unfortunately fought in front of the kids—something Meredith never wanted to happen. They did their best to keep it away from the kids, but with the high octaves of their voices, it hardly ever worked.

Meredith gave Derek a smile back. It was a smile with the hidden meaning of 'don't think you're off the hook'. It was a smile she had given Derek many times throughout their relationship.

Meredith handed Bailey off to Derek before she went and gathered their belongings from the table, threw out their trash and took Derek's hand that he held out for her once he put Zola down.

He took his growing family back to his small apartment in D.C. He hadn't missed it at all; the small space was barley furnished. The walls were a bland brown, void of anything on them. Since it was a small studio apartment, everything was visible from the threshold of the front door. Next to Derek's bed on the nightstand is a framed photo of Meredith, Derek and the kids on the day that Bailey was born.

Meredith looked around the small space and was taken back to the time when Derek first showed her the trailer in the early days of their relationship, the first time around. She shot a knowing look at Derek and by the glint in his eyes, she knew he was thinking the same thing.

"So, what all do you have to do?" Meredith asked, wondering how long they would be in D.C.

"I just have to sign a few more things at the NIH and I'll be free to go. We can go home to Seattle, continue on with our lives, and wait for the twins to get here. That is all I want; for us to be a family together again."

Meredith smiled softly at Derek. "Me too. But you're still not getting away with just up and leaving us like that. Just wait until we get home."

 **Ok, so this is super short and I hate that it's short, but I wanted to give you guys an update. More by Sunday, that I promise. Also, just a fair warning, I found a way to bring Lexie (because she was one of my favs) into the story.**


	10. Chapter 10

**So, I'm writing and updating as I sit in my class. Apparently we're supposed to be taking notes on our computers on a movie we're watching (yep, I'm in class at 6 p.m.).**

 **Luckily I've already seen the movie a lot, so here I am.**

Derek had finished signing all of the necessary paperwork that was needed for him to formally quit the NIH project the next day. Meredith had helped him packed what little he had in the apartment before they traveled to the post office and sent it to Seattle.

The day following this resignation, Derek and Meredith decided to travel up to New York City so they could spend some time with Derek's mother. Carolyn hadn't seen the kids, or Derek and Meredith for that matter, in quite a while. There were the frequent Skype calls, but no other visual contact.

They were going to show up at Carolyn's house unannounced, and ready to finally share the news of Meredith's pregnancy with Carolyn—something they had failed to do in the small amount of time they had known themselves.

Derek only hoped that Amelia hadn't told anyone about the new additions. Meredith on the other hand knew that Amelia hadn't spoken to Carolyn in quite some time considering the infrequent contact Carolyn had made with her youngest daughter.

Traveling to New York on the train was a little messy with two little kids, but luckily Meredith wasn't alone like she was on the plane from Seattle to D.C. The had arrived at Central Station sooner than Meredith had thought they would and caught a cab to the Shepherd residence.

With Zola in his left arm, Derek used his right hand to knock on the door while Meredith held Bailey. There wasn't an answer at first, but the second time Derek knocked on the door, Carolyn had answered.

The look on her face was surprised to say the least. At the sight of her son and his family, Carolyn's face lit up in excitement. It had been long time since she last saw her son in person, and every longer since she saw her Shepherd grandchildren and daughter-in-law.

"Derek! Meredith! What a wonderful surprise this is," Carolyn said as she engulfed the couple in a hug, squishing her grandchildren into the hug as well. "Come in, come in."

Meredith had never been in Carolyn's house before as the older woman was always flying out to Seattle due to Meredith and Derek's heavy work schedule, so she was looking forward to see what Derek's childhood home looked like.

When they walked through the door, they were immediately greeted with pictures lining the walls of all of her children and grandchildren. As Meredith looked down the line, she saw each Shepherd sister's wedding photo. She felt a pang of guilt because there was one of herself and Derek considering they had been married via post-it before legalizing it in Seattle's city hall.

Continuing down, memories of her grandchildren were documented. Meredith never realized just how many pictures she and Derek sent Carolyn until she saw framed photos, and pictures held up by magnets on the fridge once they reached the kitchen.

It was nearing dinner when Meredith and Derek had arrived in New York, so Carolyn was more than delighted to feed her visiting family. Derek escorted Meredith and the kids upstairs so they could drop their belongings off before heading back downstairs.

Meredith and Derek were staying in Derek's childhood bedroom and Meredith enjoyed seeing the space that her husband spent his youth in. His bed was made up of soft tan colored sheets, the walls a light blue. Around his room were various first place trophies scattered around.

"You never took these when you moved?" Meredith asked as she held up one of Derek's mathematics trophies.

"They weren't really part of Addison's decor," Derek answered as he eyed the award.

Meredith shook her head. Over the years, she had come to like Addison, but sometimes hearing certain things about her made Meredith's blood boil. "Well, if you want to, I would love to have these around the house," Meredith replied as she smiled at her husband.

Derek smiled at his wife, but before he could reply, Zola came bursting through the door.

"Nana said dinner is done!"

Throughout dinner, Carolyn eyed Meredith. Even though she was carrying twins, Meredith was still on the small side of pregnancy weight. A small bump was evident, but other assets were certainly growing as well. Carolyn always had a hunch for these things; she knew her daughter-in-law was pregnant again.

Now she just had to get it out of the couple. "So, Derek, Meredith…anything you'd like to share with me about your life back in Seattle?" Carolyn decided to be blunt about it instead of tread around the topic.

Meredith's eyes widened, and Derek stared back at his mother. "Mom!"

Composing herself, Meredith looked at Derek before looking back at Carolyn. "Actually, we recently found out that I'm pregnant."

"With twins," Derek added with a smile gracing his face.

Before Carolyn could reply, Zola chirped in, "Yup. Mama's gonna get big, big, big like she did with Bay."

Meredith laughed at her daughter. That seemed to be one of the main things Zola liked to say to people when she heard them talking about the babies. If this were her first pregnancy, she would probably be a little upset about that fact, but given the fact that she was very pregnant with Bailey, she knew it was coming any time now, especially with twins.

 **okay, okay this was semi short, but this is only part 1. part 2 will come later this week. and as always, thank you for all the reviews**


	11. Chapter 11

**Sorry it took so long. I have been working on my mini-movie script and time kind of got away from me. Here's part 2; hoping to get chapter 12 up soon.**

Later that night after dinner, the kids were in the living room watching a Disney movie while Meredith and Derek were catching up with Carolyn in the kitchen.

During dinner, Carolyn had found out that not only was Meredith pregnant, but pregnant with twins. Meredith and Derek still weren't sure if they were going to tell anyone the gender of the babies, but they decided that Carolyn of people should know, so Meredith gave Derek the joy of telling his mother that the twins were a boy and a girl.

To say that Carolyn Shepherd was excited about the news of her newest grandchildren would be an understatement.

Meredith was sitting at the island counter that sits in the middle of the spacious kitchen, as instructed by Derek, as Derek helped Carolyn clean up from dinner.

"So, do you two have names picked out?" Carolyn was now very interested in knowing everything she could about Meredith's pregnancy.

"Well, we decided to name them after my sister, as a memory type thing. So we're naming them Marcus Alexander and for the girl, well we still need to think of a first name for her, but her middle name will be either Alexandra or Lexie." Meredith could see the tears that were welling up in Carolyn's eyes at the mention of Mark's name. Years later and it was still hard on everybody that knew the plastic surgeon, and even harder on Meredith on Lexie's behalf.

"That's a nice sentiment." There was quiet in the kitchen for a few minutes before Carolyn spoke up again. "It's ashamed you two won't be able to stay long enough for all of the girls to come over. They would all love to see you two and the kids."

Discreetly, Meredith rolled her eyes at even thinking of seeing Nancy. Ever since she met Nancy in person all those years ago, she couldn't stand the woman—so much to the fact that she avoids her at all costs. Lizzie was a bit different; ever since she and Meredith had a truce after Meredith revealed her pregnancy with Bailey to Lizzie, they had begun talking. Meredith had only met Kathleen a handful of times, so there wasn't really much she could say about the woman other than the fact that she wasn't as bitchy as Nancy. Her favorite Shepherd sister, though is Amelia—even with all of their fights and arguments, which had been far and few between.

"Yeah, it's a shame… we'll catch them next time," Derek replied as he watched his wife roll her eyes. Thankfully, Carolyn didn't see Meredith's action. "But for this short trip, we're happy to spend it with just you. The kids missed their Nana."

"Which is why we're going out into the city tomorrow. I want as much time with those two as possible," Carolyn declared as she finished putting the dried dishes back into their proper place.

The next morning, Meredith and Derek got their two children ready for a day out in New York City while Carolyn was finishing breakfast. They had sat down just like that had the night before and ate a quick breakfast before they headed out into the city.

They first headed to the Children's Museum of Manhattan. Carolyn was excited to take Zola and Bailey on their first museum visit because it was her tradition to take all of her grandchildren on their first trip to the museum. Meredith and Derek hung behind where Carolyn was guiding their children through the museum.

Meredith was watching as Zola was interested in everything Carolyn was pointing out while Bailey was following his grandmother around. Derek noticed her watching on and squeezed Meredith's hand.

"We're halfway there with the twins," Derek said in a low whisper.

Meredith smiled and looked at her husband. "Yeah, I know. Feels like we were just finding out I was pregnant yesterday."

"Well, in all fairness, we did just find out a month and a half ago," Derek said with a chuckle. All he received in response was a gentle punch in the arm.

Silence followed them as they followed Carolyn's trail through the museum. "I'm glad that nothing too serious happened to you that day. I honestly don't know what I would have done if you were…I don't think I would have been able to handle four kids by myself. Just…thank you, for everything that you have done recently. And, I'm sorry about all the fighting we've done in the past year. I just wanted you to be happy," Meredith said softly, avoiding eye contact with Derek.

Derek stopped them in their tracks before gently holding Meredith's arms. "I am happy right here, right now. With you, Zola, Bailey and the twins. And I don't want to go back to the period where we were living on separate coasts. And I don't want you taking all the blame, because it was my fault too. I'm the one that wanted us to go to D.C; I'm the one that expected you to up and move with me; I'm the one that took a more demanding job rather than stepping back like I told you I would. It's more my fault than yours."

Meredith hugged Derek tightly. "Just don't leave again. I can't do this by myself. I need you there with me."

They had eventually caught up with Carolyn after their brief stop. Zola was going on about everything that Carolyn had just showed her while Bailey was held in his grandmother's arms.

Unfortunately, their returning flight was due to leave in a few hours, so they needed to end their trip shortly. Seeing the devastating look on Zola's face made Meredith's heart break.

"Zo, I hear there's a really big Toys R Us around here somewhere. How about we go there and buy you a new toy? You can play with it on the plane on our way home." Meredith tried to bribe her daughter, as bad as that made her feel. Zola's eyes were wide when she heard the words fall from her mother's mouth.

The five of them returned to Carolyn's house and had a very brief time of talking before the Seattle Shepherds had to leave for the airport.

On the flight back, Zola and Bailey were fast asleep, thanks to Carolyn's city exploring. Meredith and Derek were talking in quiet whispers about what needed to be done to the house before the twins arrived.

 **Working on the next chapter tomorrow. I'll have time between my first morning class and first afternoon class. I'm going to do a time jump of a few weeks next chapter, to get further in Meredith's pregnancy.**


	12. Chapter 12

**So I'm supposed to be doing research for a project right now, but instead here I am, updating xD oh well.**

 **There's about a 2 month time jump beginning this chapter.**

 _25 weeks pregnant_

Meredith was at home with the kids while Derek was at the hospital for a few hours. It was her day off and lately she was beginning to enjoy them more and more because it gave her time to be with her first two children before the twins came.

At the moment, Meredith was sitting on the couch with Zola snuggled up next to her. She had put Bailey down for a nap in his bedroom a little while ago while she and Zola watched a Disney movie.

Zola moved closer to Meredith before she placed her tiny hand on Meredith's ever expanding stomach.

"Mama, when am I getting a sister?" Zola looked up at her mother with her eyes begging for the answer to be right now.

"You still have a few more months, Zo. Don't worry, we'll tell you when. You know, Daddy and I haven't given your sister a name yet. What do you think?"

Zola sat for a minute thinking her options over. She remembered overhearing her parents talk about names before. "Lex!" Zola said as her eyes sparkled after remembering the name her mother wanted to use.

Meredith's eyes began welling with tears. She often wonders if Zola remembered Lexie, since she was so young when the plane crash happened. "We need a first name, Lovebug. Your sister is going to have Aunt Lexie's name as her middle name." Logically, Meredith knew Zola didn't know what a middle name was, but the words just fell out of her mouth. Luckily, Zola seemed to realize the seriousness in her mother's voice that Meredith hadn't realized was there.

"I don't have anymore names. That's your job," Zola said with a laugh.

The two watched the rest of the movie in silence. When it was over, Zola asked Meredith if they could have a tea party. Meredith knew the likelihood of her being able to sit down and have a tea party with Zola would be low once the twins were there. As Zola was setting the party up, Derek had called and informed Meredith that he would be home later than expected.

As Meredith sat at the small round table with Zola, she remembered one of the last tea parties Zola forced her and Derek into a few weeks before Bailey was born. She was positive Zola was going to hate him, but it turned out to be quite the opposite—her daughter is quite the lovable person.

Unlike the last time, though, Meredith was continuously placing a hand on her bump to calm the twins. She never had Braxton Hicks with Bailey, but for the past week or so she had been experiencing small cramps here and there.

Zola caught her mother's actions and looked at her through squinted eyes. "You okay, Mama?" She had heard Derek ask Meredith the same question more than a few times in the previous weeks and decided that she would fill her daddy's role since he wasn't home.

"I'm okay, Zo. Your brother and sister are just moving around," Meredith smiled at her daughter, even if it was a small lie. She was definitely not okay with those Braxton Hicks.

Zola walked over to Meredith and squatted down next to her. She looked at Meredith's stomach and began talking. "You gots to be good for Mama, guys. It's not nice to hurt her."

Meredith softly laughed at her daughter's actions. "It's okay, Zola. They're just getting comfy in there." Meredith was trying hard not to let her daughter know that they weren't actually moving around.

Zola was about to reply, but they both heard Bailey calling out for Meredith. Meredith slowly got up and headed toward the stairs. Bailey was sitting at the top of the stairs behind the baby gate. She picked him up the best that she could and headed back downstairs.

When Meredith placed him on the floor, Bailey began walking over to Zola and before Meredith knew it, her daughter had invited Bailey to the tea party—and Bailey joined. She smiled when she saw her two children laying together. Bailey now had the crown on that Derek normally wears and Zola had a fuzzy scarf wrapped around her neck.

Seeing that her children were occupied, Meredith decided to finish the laundry she had started earlier in the day.

As Meredith folded the load that was in the dryer, she smiled as she was folding tiny baby clothes that she had kept from Bailey's infancy. She didn't know why she kept them, but she did. And she couldn't believe that she was about to have two more little babies in the house.

A year ago, she was sure she and Derek were heading down the road to divorce, but somehow they managed to turn their luck around and ended up back where they had started their lives together and were having babies in just a few short months.

Meredith sighed as she felt the Braxton Hicks again. She really was getting tired of them occurring. But she was also worried about why they were happening so often that day.

She pushed it to the side of her mind though when Zola came up and announced that she and Bailey were hungry. So she quickly put a snack together for them. That was when the pain really started.

Meredith managed to get the plates to the kids just before a wave of pain hit her. Zola looked at her mother worriedly and her eyes grew wide when she saw blood coming from her mother.

"Mommy, you're bleeding."

"I know, Zo. It's going to be okay," Meredith said slow as she was losing her breath with each pain.

"Should I call Daddy?" Zola asked after seeing her mother hunch over in pain. She hadn't ever seen her mother hurting this bad and knew it was serious when Meredith had expressed the pain she was feeling. But she never received an answer from Meredith as she had fallen to the ground. Zola decided to call 911 instead since she didn't even know Derek's number. When the operator picked up, Zola softly spoke. "My mommy fell down and she's bleeding."

The ride was bumpy and Meredith was in and out of consciousness. In her brief moments of being conscience, she saw that she was in an ambulance. She felt the straps holding her down on the gurney; she saw her daughter consoling her son as they had to witness that sight of their mother injured; she felt the pain of what she could guess was placental abruption. Silently, she said a prayer for her two unborn children to be okay.

 _She recognized where she was after a few moments of confusion. Back in the woods from all those years ago. Only, there wasn't a plane this time. It was just vacant woods. From the distance, she heard someone calling her name._

 _Meredith looked around trying to find the voice that she was hearing. She would recognized that voice anywhere._

 _It belonged to one of the people she had grown closest to; the woman that she didn't want in her life, but somehow loving the hell out of her after months of ignoring her._

 _Meredith turned and saw her sister. She was more beautiful than Meredith remembered. Lexie was scratch free, no indication of a plane crash on her body. In fact, Lexie Grey was smiling that bright and shiny smile she always had._

 _Meredith briefly wondered where Derek was. Or even her kids. She looked down and her stomach was still noticeably big._

 _Lexie had finally found her and hugged her. For the first time—aside from seeing Derek after his accident—Meredith was more than willing to hug someone other than her kids._

 _For a brief moment, she was happy. Lexie looked at her and smiled again._

 _"_ _I knew you were going to have a baby of your own someday." She stepped away from Meredith a little before she looked at Meredith's stomach._

Meredith became conscious again, fighting off the hands that were working on her. Someone had finally gotten an oxygen mask on her face as she muttered Derek's names. She recognized the walls of Grey-Sloan Memorial and knew that they were going to take care of her, and inform Derek of whatever was going on with her. Before she knew it, she was unconscious again, fading back into darkness.

 **I think this was the longest chapter I ever posted for this story.** ** _PLEASE_** **don't hate me**? **. I borrowed dialogue from episode 22/23 of season 11- did my best to remember because I don't watch season 11. I told you I found a way for Lexie to come back. I really have to go study for an exam I have tomorrow. I promise to update either tomorrow or Thursday (seriously, I'm keeping this promise).**


	13. Chapter 13

**As promised! Wrote this both after my test because I finished early, and in between my morning and afternoon classes.**

 **Thank you for the reviews :)**

Derek was ready to leave the hospital when he saw an incoming ambulance. Amelia wasn't available for any surgeries, so Derek stuck around to see if the patient had any head trauma. However, his heart stopped and his stomach dropped at the sight of his two children being guided into the emergency room doors.

His face lost all color when he saw Meredith strapped down on a stretcher, an oxygen mask on her face. He could see that her face was pale; the lat time he had seen her this pale was when she was regaining color after nearly drowning in Elliot Bay.

Zola and Bailey ran towards Derek once they saw their father staring at their mother being wheeled by. Zola tugged on Derek's pant leg to get his attention, and when Derek looked down, Zola poke up.

"Mama was bleeding real bad. I had to call the 'mergency people," Zola's voice showed one of concern.

At that moment, Derek saw Owen Hunt walking down the hall—right toward Derek. When he finally reached Derek, Owen first led him away from the kids, then spoke up.

"Meredith lost a lot of blood. It was a placental abruption and the babies were in distress. They're transfusing her now, but they had to take her up to surgery. As you know, that means an emergency cesarian. They're fifteen weeks early, so it's going to be an uphill battle-"

Derek interrupted Owen before he could finish. It was so much information thrown at him at once, but he got the gist of what was happening. Meredith had a placental abruption and the twins were arriving that day. "I'm going to go make a phone call," Derek said as he left Owen with Zola and Bailey.

"Addison Montgomery, please tell her it's Derek and it's an important matter," Derek said when he called Addison's practice in Los Angeles. He waited a few minutes before he heard his ex-wife pick up the phone.

"Derek?" Addison said once she answered the phone. He could hear the questioning tone and confusion in her voice.

For a few moments, Derek was silent. "Meredith…she is—was pregnant. With twins. They're working on her now. There was a placental abruption. My son and daughter are fifteen weeks early, Addie. I need the best to come and work on them. I was told she lost a lot of blood, they're transfusing her as we speak, but they didn't tell me anything about the babies other than they were in distress." Derek was rambling and he knew it, but he couldn't help it.

Addison heard the emotion in her ex-husband's voice before she spoke up. "I'm getting on the hospital's helicopter now. Give me three hours." Addison didn't give Derek a chance to answer as she hung up with phone.

 _Standing in the woods, Lexie continued staring at her sister's bulging stomach. A small smile graced her face._

 _Before Meredith knew it, Lexie had a newborn baby in her arms. The baby was swaddled in a soft plush blanket. Lexie looked down at the baby then back up to her sister._

 _"_ _We'll take great care of him, Mer. Mark, George and I, we'll take care of him and make sure he knows how much he is loved by you, Derek, Zola and Bailey._

 _Lexie began to walk back into the distance that she came from. Her form had completely disappeared._

 _Meredith was screaming and crying in the middle of the woods yet again. Only this time, she wasn't screaming out Derek's name, or crying over her sister's death. She was screaming out Lexie's name and crying for the baby that was just taken from her._

 _She had to get out of there. The space in the woods was beginning to close in on her; there was a bright light shining ahead. Meredith began to walk off into the light that she had once seen after she drowned in Elliot Bay._

There was a steady beeping, that was the first thing she recognized. The pain was next. She hadn't felt that bad since Bailey had been born. She could smell the sterilized room she was in. Opening her eyes, Meredith saw her husband sitting in the chair next to what was apparently her hospital bed.

Meredith rolled her head so she was facing Derek. He was awake, but he had bloodshot eyes. Derek gave her a fraction of his McDreamy smile.

"You sure do know how to scare people, Meredith Grey," Derek said in hopes to lighten the mood.

"What happened?" Meredith said slowly. Her voice was raspy from being unconscious for so long.

Derek tilted his head a bit before beginning to fill his wife in on the day's events. "You had a placental abruption. The babies were in distress. Doctor Ryan had to do an emergency c-section. Both babies are out, so far they're doing good," Derek added at seeing her worried gaze. "You lost a lot of blood, so you were transfused during surgery. It took a bit longer because the bleeding wasn't stopping, but they fixed it. You did, however, decide to crash on the surgical team twice."

Meredith closed her eyes and turned her head a bit. "I saw my sister…Lexie. I saw her. We were in the woods where the plane crashed. And she looked perfect. Like there wasn't even a crash. And then she had him in her arms, our baby. And she promised she, Mark and George would take good care of him." Meredith stopped and took a deep breath. "But he's good; he's alive."

Derek nodded his head. "They're both alive. Addison said that so far they are doing well."

"But they're fifteen weeks early. Anything can happen. I thought they were Braxton Hicks. The cramps I had today…I thought they were Braxton Hicks." Meredith closed her eyes for a few seconds before they popped back open. "Zola…does she know I'm okay? She saw it happen. I guess she called the paramedics."

"She did, and she's okay. She knows her mama is safe and doing better. Alex took them for the night. Maggie is going to take them tomorrow night. Everything is taken care of, you just get your rest. You've been through a lot today."

 ** _Next Morning_**

It was later in the morning the next day. The twins had made it through the night, and Meredith had demanded to see them last night, in case anything should happen to them while in the NICU. Addison had been reluctant on letting her go in, but decided on letting her see her children.

But that was last night. This morning, Addison was walking down the hallway with a solemn look on her face. Meredith Grey's twins were doing just fine, and then out of no where, he wasn't. She took a deep breath when she reached Meredith's room.

"Meredith, Derek? I have an update on the twins. Baby girl Shepherd is doing great. Her lung function is better than expected…um…your son, though. His lungs just gave out. We did everything we could." And they did; Addison did. She had stayed the night in an on call room and stuck by the two Shepherd children as much as possible. Addison hated having to inform her ex husband and his wife this unfortunate news, but she didn't want anyone else to do it.

Derek looked down at the floor while Meredith looked at Addison. "Get out. Just get out of this room." When Addison didn't move, Meredith yelled. "I said get the hell out of here! I don't want to see you right now; either of you. So. Just. Get. Out. NOW!"

Addison backed away. She didn't take it personally, in fact she was anticipating the reaction. Derek however, looked at his wife with a said look on his face. But he decided he should give her the space she wanted. Derek followed Addison out of the room and they both walked off down the hall. Addison was taking him to see his daughter.

"Don't take it personally, Derek. She's in pain right now. She was just told that her newborn baby died; the baby that she was supposed to protect for nine months. I'm not saying this is her fault, because its not. Abruptions just happen sometimes. But Meredith is going to blame herself for all of this happening, so prepare yourself to help her through the difficult times. And listen to her wants for a while, but not too much because she could fall into an emotional state," Addison told Derek everything she had witnessed from various patients so he knew what to expect.

It was going to be a hard time on the whole family, but it would be most difficult on Meredith. Derek just had to be there to help her pull through all the pain.

 **Okay, seriously, I hate myself for this. I really do, but I really wanted to bring Lexie back (and I had something like this planned from the beginning). It just fit to have Lexie there in that state of unconsciousness. I absolutely promise that Baby girl Shepherd will be just fine—in fact they are going to be naming her next chapter. I going to try and update tonight or tomorrow.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Okay, seriously I cried my eyes out while I wrote the last chapter. And I feel so bad about doing it, too.**

 **This update would have been up last week, but I had not only 3 papers to write, but also 3 tests to study for and I had to work on my mini-movie script.**

Meredith turned on her side as much as she could with the incision across her lower abdomen. The dark skies outside matched her mood perfectly. The dark and gloomy sky had fat raindrops falling from the clouds; Meredith's face was void of emotion, fat tears rolling down her face.

She didn't mean to go off on Addison and Derek, but she couldn't help it. She needed to yell at someone, even though she thought it was all her fault. Her eyes were trained on the window as she watched the rain fall.

She couldn't help but think about her sweet little baby boy that was taken too soon. Meredith couldn't wrap her mind around the fact that the little tiny baby she had met the previous night was gone.

He would never get to meet his siblings, or any of the rest of the family. He wouldn't grow up in the Grey-Shepherd household; would never know anything about the world. He was a life that was taken too soon, way too soon.

The last thing Meredith expected this morning when she woke up was that she would be told she would be leaving the hospital with only one baby. She knew it probably hurt Addison on having to tell Meredith her child had died.

Though her son had died, Meredith was happy that she had the chance to at least see him once, alive, before she would have to see his lifeless form.

She faintly heard the squeaking of the door as she was staring at the wall. Meredith didn't bother turning around because she knew it was one of four people, Derek, Addison, Maggie or Alex.

When she felt the foot of the bed sink, she assumed it was Derek. She was wrong. Meredith turned over slightly to see that it was Addison who had entered the room. Seeing that it was Addison, Meredith turned and faced the window again.

Addison, however, did not let Meredith's actions effect her meaning of being there.

"I know you're hurting, Meredith, I do. But you have another baby that is in that incubator who needs her mother. You can mourn the loss of your baby boy as much as you want. I encourage you to, but you need to think about your daughter, and not just your newborn, but Zola and Bailey too. Derek and I explained to Zola that you're going to be just fine, that's all she knows. But this situation can't just be about you; Derek is hurting too. He won't hurt as much as you, but he's hurting."

Addison heard sniffles coming from the fragile woman laying on the bed before Meredith spoke up. "We were going to name him after Mark and Lexie. His name was Marcus Alexander. And now…Lexie came and took him from me," Meredith said in between small sobs.

Addison sighed. "Meredith…Lexie's…"

"Dead. I know." Meredith turned to look at Addison. "When I was out during surgery or whatever. We were in the woods were the plane crashed. And she was happy…and then she had him in her arms and promised that she, Mark and George would take care of him. And then she left."

"I don't think Lexie was there to take him, I really don't. I think she was there letting you know that he will be loved, and taken care of. She didn't take your baby, Meredith." Surprisingly, Meredith nodded her head in agreement.

Meredith was now completely turned over. "I'm scared that we're going to lose her too," she said softly.

Addison shook her head. "I'm not going to let that happen. I have been monitoring her myself since this morning, and I will continue to. Your daughter will be going home with you in a few weeks. I promise. And I don't make any promises to patients or patient's mothers. Her lung function? Amazing considering how early she was. She is going to make it, I promise," Addison reassured her multiple times.

Meredith nodded her head slightly. "Do you…could you get Derek for me? I want to name her. She doesn't deserve to be called her. And as cute as baby girl Shepherd is, it's a bit long."

Addison nodded and left the room. Minutes later, Derek came in. "How are you feeling?"

"Like crap. But you know that already. I'm sorry about earlier."

"You don't have to apologize, Meredith. And you don't get to blame yourself. We'll make it through this," Derek said as he grabbed her hand.

"I know. It'll just take a little time. I want to name our daughter. I don't like calling her baby girl Shepherd."

"Then we'll name her."

"Addison said she's going to make it. So, I was thinking…maybe we could name her Ellis? Call her El or Ellie for short?"

Derek gave her the McDreamy smile before he spoke. "Ellis Alexandra. I think that is a great name."

"I'm sorry we couldn't use Mark's name. I know how much it meant to you."

Derek shook his head. "No, we used it. Our son will always be Marcus Alexander, I swear. And we will never forget him."

"And remind the kids who he is…was?" Meredith asked and Derek nodded his head.

 **Okay, so I know this was short (and I hate that it was so short), but I didn't want to get all emotional writing another chapter (and I don't** **know what it's like to lose a child, so I don't** **want to write too much into that), so I made it mainly Meredith/Addison. Next chapter will be Meredith being home/ progress of Ellie. And it will also be much longer than this update, promise.**


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